We Spent Christmas Alone in Our Van

Hi everyone, I hope you had a beautiful winter solstice, Yule celebrations and Christmas, or simply lovely holidays if you're not celebrating. If you're new here, I'm Jessica and I live in my camper van Bilbo full-time with my partner Rissi and our puppy Heidi. A year ago we bought a second-hand van, converted it with reclaimed and sustainable materials and left our old lives behind. Since then we've been travelling around Europe in the slow lane to reconnect with nature and grow roots in the wild. This week's story begins at winter solstice, the shortest day and the longest night of the year. We've been spending a few days in this woodland whose name translates to shadow forest and it looks just like Lothlórien from Lord of the Rings, with golden light filtering through ancient trees and mossy trunks that seemed almost alive. We did some little rituals to celebrate this time of the year and just took some time to ground ourselves in the stillness and magic of the forest. Today we're having a little feast under the trees with some locally grown produce and plant-based ham and mozzarella we found in a local shop. Every year on winter solstice an ancient battle takes place between the oak king and the holly king, two brothers who are locked in an eternal dance of rivalry and renewal. The holly king, crowned with spiked leaves and crimson red berries, reigns over the darker half of the year. From midsummer to midwinter the holly king's power grows as the days shrink, the air cools and the earth rests. He's the king of long shadows and frosty mornings, a symbol of the retreating sun and the promise of stillness. But his reign is not forever. The oak king is the bringer of light and life, crowned with fresh leaves and acorns who represent the long days and abundant life of the lighter half of the year. And on the winter solstice the two kings meet in battle. The oak king, with the promise of longer days and warm sunlight, defeats the holly king, ushering in a slow but steady return of the light until their next battle in midsummer when the holly king will reclaim his throne and the cycle repeats over and over until the end of time. The story of the two kings isn't just about seasons, it's about resilience and a reminder that even in the deepest darkness the light will always return. With both of us being from the northern half of Europe, spending winter solstice in the sunny woodland with 16 degrees outside and eating fresh tomato soup felt admittedly a little bit strange, but I would be lying if I said we didn't thoroughly enjoy the warm sun on our faces in the middle of December. On one of our walks we had spotted some glistening snow higher up in the we decided to drive up there in the hope that we might have a white Christmas, which seemed a bit unlikely being in southern Italy but we had been in this magical spot for a few days so it felt like the right time to move on. On Christmas day we woke up surrounded by snow which transformed the entire woodland into a fairy tale scene. The branches carried a thin blanket of snow with no wind to shake it loose and the forest shimmered in many shades of white, brown and green. Our heating isn't working at the moment so it truly feels like we're camping out in the wild and we're keeping ourselves warm with lots of steaming hot drinks and lots of layers, just marveling at the frosty landscape outside a cottage on wheels. Our puppy Heidi had never experienced proper thick snow like this before and her joy was absolutely contagious. She was just frolicking through the snow, leaping through the area and trying to catch snowballs mid-air. We spent the morning laughing and playing and just being silly and joyful in this quiet winter wonderland. So you may be wondering why we're in the middle of a forest alone for Christmas and I guess the simple answer is that we don't really celebrate Christmas do we? No not really, I did when I was a kid and that was quite nice but I guess as I've gotten older less so I still like the family element but family is many thousands of kilometers away. Yeah only like three thousand. It's not a short drive. Yeah we don't really like being in the UK in the winter and we do see the family in the spring and summer so for us that's kind of enough. We don't like how busy it is during this time of the year and also don't really like the consumerist aspect of it so hiding away in a forest with good books, good films and cooking some good food sounds like an excellent plan to us. Yeah yeah definitely. Wait it out and emerge from the woods again when it's all over. Once everything's quietened down. Yeah so that's our plans. We have a little tradition of going on a walk every Christmas day so we went to explore some of the nearby trails. This dense and ancient forest is naturally managed so in many parts it's still a very wild and untamed place. We heard stories that it's said to be inhabited by spirits and fairies who guard the land and punish those who harm it. Those creatures will help guide lost travelers out of the forest as long as they show respect for the local nature. Are you having fun? It is fascinating how many of the old stories trace back to values of taking care of nature and living in harmony with wildlife. It's one of the many reasons I think folklore is so so important because it carries timeless lessons which can help us live in a way that is lighter on the earth and our fellow beings. We stayed out for quite a while and even had a little snowball fight until it started snowing quite heavily and we decided that it was time to head back to the van. We parked near a small lake which we had visited just the other day before the snow arrived and at the time we didn't think it was particularly special but with a it suddenly was a really magical place. In many cultures snow is a symbol of new beginnings, a natural cleansing of the earth that wipes away the traces of the past year. In Norse mythology snowstorms were thought to be battles between the Jotnar, ancient frost giants who embodied the untamed forces of nature. Watching the snow swirl around us it wasn't hard to imagine those mighty beings preparing for combat and we didn't want to get caught in the crossfire so we retreated back to the van and let the giants carry on with their timeless quarrels. You're very cute Heidi. Are you sleepy? Are we a bit sleepy? What are we cooking today babe? We are cooking creamy pasta with fennel. My favourite and yours. Which I famously dislike. Turns out just about everything is nice when it's smothered in cheese. You always like my fennel recipes. I do make your fennel. For the most part, we're gonna have it with some vegan mozzarella. What is it? Parmesan. Yeah which we picked up in the supermarket. Hello Heidi. Yeah we found vegan cheese in the supermarket here and vegan bacon as well which is a treat. We've been keeping this for Christmas. We don't usually eat a lot of vegan replacement products but it's nice to try the local ones whenever we're in a new country. Um yeah that's pretty much it isn't it? Some mushrooms. Yes looking forward to it. So Rissi has popped up for the next half hour or so to walk Heidi and there's one last thing that I really wanted to do this Christmas which I do every Christmas and that is make mulled wine. So I've got a few spices. I've got Italian oranges and lovely Italian wine so I'm going to boil this with the wine for five to ten minutes and then strain it and enjoy it outside because it's three in the afternoon which means it's going to be dark in the next hour so I just want to make the most of the daylight with a hot drink. We don't actually drink very often. We drink alcohol like once a month or so so it's a special occasion. We've been eating a lot of chillies and soups and stews to keep warm so this is another part of our strategy to make do until we can fix our heating next week. Do you have a nice walk? Do you have nice walkies? Now we stay warm. Lots of blankets. Many many blankets. So we've got our wool duvet which is already pretty warm. In the summer it's almost a little bit too warm for us at least and then we've got this blanket which my mum passed on to us which is also really warm. It's filled with something fleecy I believe. Yeah but for how light it is I'm actually really surprised at how warm it is. Yeah it's quite warm. It's really good. So that really saved us when we were traveling to the Alps. We still had our heating back then but it was still nice to have the extra blanket and then we've got two throws and then do you want to show us the thrifted blanket? So we thrifted this. It's like a patchwork huge blanket that we got in a second hand shop locally. It's a really nice pattern actually and I think it's two blankets kind of sewn together so it's really really huge. I'm definitely glad we got it. Jess wanted a different one. It's one of the few aesthetic decisions I got to make. I think it's still really nice. Yeah it's a nice pattern. So this is one of our most essential items in the van. It's called a window vac and we use it to prevent damp and mould in the van. So we use it on our windows once a day or even several times a day when our heating is acting up like it is now and yeah it is just so so so important for us to have one especially when we're in cold countries. When we were in Spain last winter we didn't really need it but now that we're in snowy areas it's definitely a must have. So we've had a lovely Christmas in the snow but I think it's time for us to drive down the mountain again where it's a little bit warmer. Yeah it's my first white Christmas. Really? Yeah. Your first ever? My first ever. Wow that's very special. It's my first white Christmas in like 15 years. Oh yeah it's getting a bit difficult because it's quite wet because some of the snow is melting and it just gets inside the van as well. We have no heating so once it's wet inside the van it doesn't dry off because it's too cold to dry. Yeah we kind of hang up our socks to dry but they're not drying. So I think it's time to go back to the woods where it's a bit sunnier with no snow and we're gonna stay there for another day or so and then slowly make our way back to the coast where it's a little bit warmer. And a lot drier. And a lot drier. It's a very different climate. Yeah it's really interesting the climate varies a lot across the national park here because the elevation is also very varied so yeah it's a really cool place but yeah I'm ready for some coastal warmth. Nice sunshine. Yeah maybe a dip in the sea. As the king stepped down from his throne so too did we bid farewell to the beautiful winter scenery to move towards sunnier and warmer realms. As we returned to our previous park up it felt as if no time had passed whatsoever with the lower forest flooded with golden sunlight welcoming us back with open arms. If you enjoyed this video do subscribe for more van life adventures, how we live more sustainably on the road and the folklore we encounter on our travels. Until then have a lovely week ahead and we'll see you next time. Take care, bye.